No more mothball fleet?

Suisun Bay's mothball fleet may not look like much to some - a graveyard where old ships go to die.

But to a recycling company, the vessels may be a catalyst to jump-start a shipbuilding business at Mare Island.

To a nonprofit, the old boats are a potential tourist draw for Bay Area divers who want to explore sunken wrecks.

And to the Navy, the fleet may be a stockpile of artificial reefs to create homes for marine life.

Plenty of ideas are floating around with what to do with the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, which plans to dispose of the majority of its current inventory.

At last count, 57 of 77 ships in the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet were tagged for disposal, said Susan Clark, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Maritime Administration in Washington D.C., which is responsible for the facility.

"There are a number of options," Clark said. "We have given some for museum ships . . . They are available for reefing and recycling."

The remaining ships are kept for use in defense or aid missions.

Recently, the former USS Oriskany left the fleet for the Gulf of Mexico, where the Navy last month used explosives to sink the aircraft carrier to create an artificial reef.

The former USS Iowa is sitting on hold at the fleet, while two groups compete to acquire the ship and convert it as a floating museum at either the Port of Stockton or Vallejo's Mare Island.

And the Maritime Administration is now evaluating bids from companies seeking to scrap four of the ships.

Gary Whitney of Allied Defense Recycling LLC said his firm hopes to win the contract and would recycle the ships at the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo.

"The value of the shipyard though is far more than just scrapping the vessels," Whitney said. "In the event we reopen the shipyard here, our intent is for it to be a fully functional vessel."

The Maritime Administration soon plans to announce the contracts for the Suisun Bay ships. On Wednesday, officials awarded contracts for recycling two vessels from its Beaumont Reserve Fleet in Texas.

Whitney said if his firm wins the job it'll dry-dock the ships at Mare Island and remove hazardous materials like heavy metals and PCBs. Then, they'll dismantle the ships and sell off materials like brass, bronze and stainless steel.

Mare Island has the infrastructure needed, like dry docks, and is only a short sail from the fleet's home in Suisun Bay, Whitney said.

A better idea is to sink the ships, said Dean Rewerts, a member of Northern California Oceans Foundation in Redwood City.

Rewerts said his group wants the Maritime Administration to clean the ships of toxic substances, then let the group sink the ships to create manmade reefs. He said the submerged vessels would create new habitat for marine life and would create a tourist attraction.

"It's one of those things divers love to do," Rewerts said. "They love to dive on wrecks."

As a diver himself, Rewerts said he'd like to see manmade reefs created near the Bay Area. The group would sell permits to divers and use the money to restart the California Department of Fish and Game's artificial reefs program, which is inactive, he said.

Whatever happens to the current stock of ships in Suisun Bay, there's sure to be more vessels retired in the future, said Whitney, whose group seeks to recycle ships at Mare island.